The Spellman Files (Izzy Spellman Mysteries, #1)

by Lisa Lutz

Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to "Get Smart" reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors -- but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman. Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go -- a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life. "The Spellman Files" is the first novel in a winning and hilarious new series featuring the Spellman family in all its lovable chaos.

• ISBN10: 1416532390
• ISBN13: 9781416532392
• Publish Date: 13 March 2007 (first published 1 March 2007)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 14 December 2010
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

The Spellman novels are a series of books I’ve been wanting to read for ages. Every since I saw Revenge of the Spellmans which came out in 2009, I’ve been avidly on the lookout for the first novel in the series. It was only when I saw the cover for the fourth book (The Spellmans Strike Again) that I finally said to myself that I was going to read these books by hook or by crook! I duly bought myself a second-hand copy of the first novel The Spellman Files and so because I was due another Amazon voucher meaning if I liked the book I could buy the rest of the series, I finally gave it a read and I wasn’t disappointed at all.

The Spellman Files is, I have to say, like no other book I’ve ever read. It starts with a very intriguing prologue, that sets the scene nicely for the novel you’re about to read as Isabel gets herself into a car chase. We then see Izzy is taking part in a police interview, because something’s happened before we go right back to the beginning. To how Spellman’s, the PI (private investigator/ive) firm, came around and to how Izzy became a PI herself. The Spellman’s are like no family you will ever meet and the whole clan make it their business to know the business of everyone else. Izzy’s mum and dad take it so far that they even get her 14-year-old sister Rae to spy on her so they can find out who her boyfriend is!

Izzy recounts the whole tale as to how she ended up being interviewed by the police and it’s set out per incident. There are car chases, lost weekends, the dentist war… and it’s mind-boggling in the very best way. There are twists and turns, there’s inter-family wars, there’s threats and there’s Rae and her negotiation tactics. It is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, I literally had tears in my eyes through laughter. The lengths Izzy and her family go to keep tabs on each other and stop anyone from spilling any beans is completely insane and I’ve never laughed so much while reading a novel. At when I wasn’t laughing, I was sat there with an amused grin on my face eagerly awaiting the next big laugh.

All of the characters are certifiable. There’s no doubt that the Spellmans love each other, but they do have some serious boundary issues. Izzy is one of the freshest female characters I’ve come across in a while. She’s spunky, she’s full of life, but mainly she’s not perfect. She was a bit of a wild child who straightened herself out and I loved her. She’s shot up my list of favourite characters, in fact her whole family has. Her mum and dad are crazy, but in a way I understood the fact they tailed their own daughter; it’s what they do. Rae was my second-favourite character, her negotiation skills are legendary, and I loved her war with Uncle Ray. Finally, there’s David, the only Spellman family member not part of Spellman’s. He’s a lawyer instead but he’s just as involved as everyone else and he’s spied on just as much as the rest of them!

Although the Spellman’s are totally nuts, they are the best family I’ve come across. I want to be part of their madcap world, and I love each and every family member. Maybe the lengths they go are a bit extreme (and far-fetched) but in the realm of the book, they fit perfectly. And it’s a stunning book. It’s not a crime novel, not really, nor would I say it’s a Chick Lit novel. It’s sort of inbetween, I suppose. I didn’t expect to finish the book as quickly as I did, but once I was sucked in, I was desperate to know the mystery, desperate to find out how it had all come about. I loved every page of the novel, and I was sat to see it finish. The book does end on a bit of a sad note. Overall I was hugely satisfied with Lutz’s debut novel, so much so that I’ll be buying the three further Spellman books immediately. The Spellmans are a family you want to meet!

[ibeforem]

I really enjoyed this. It felt very fresh to me, with an unusual organization to the story and a humorous narration from the mouth of Izzy herself. The endings of both the case and the story were unexpected. The Spellmans are a unique bunch, and I look forward to a continuation of this series!